Merry Christmas, Percy
by waterpoloplayer
Summary: Starting with December 21, Annabeth Jackson is counting the days until her husband, Percy, comes back from the military, Christmas day. "Dad would rather celebrate Christmas than pick you up,"...  "Yeah,"..."He told us..." "...Your dad's a Seaweed Brain."


**I'm going to work on my actual chapter stories later, but I can resist putting a one-shot once and a while.**

_December 21_

"Mommy?" I looked down at my youngest, Maria. She was an exact copy of Percy.

"When's daddy coming home? I miss him." I smiled, but it was sad. I missed Percy, too. He was in the Marines for a while and Japan was his deployment base. I had only seen him once in four years and that was to go to the Marine Corps Ball.

"4 days sweetie. Four days…" I told Maria. Sadly, the twins, Aaron and Zack, decided to chirp in.

"But that's Christmas! We can't miss Christmas!" They latched onto my legs. They had my blonde hair and Percy's eyes. They were the states top swimmers and three years older than Maria.

"We won't miss it. Don't you want to see daddy?" Maria nodded vigorously. She'll always be a daddy's girl.

The twins, on the other hand, just stared at me blankly. "Dad would rather celebrate Christmas than pick _you _up," Aaron said.

"Yeah," helped Zack. "He told us. 'If it was between Christmas and mommy,' he said. 'I'd chose Christmas.'"

I raised an eyebrow and picked Maria. "Yeah, well, your dad's a seaweed brain."

_December 22_

I was in the kitchen, getting dinner ready, when the phone rang. I wiped off my hands and looked at the caller I.D.

Percy. I smiled and answered the phone. "Hey, Percy," I breathed.

"Hey, Annabeth, wassup?" I rolled my eyes- still smiling- in spite of myself.

"Gone for four years, and you say 'wassup?' Really, Seaweed Brain?" I heard him chuckle. We still hadn't grown up that much. "How were you able to call?" I was back to my whispering voice. I had no reason to whisper, but I did it anyway.

"Please," he said, and I could imagine him rolling his eyes. "We don't do anything on base. Porta Potty tipping, shopping, paintball fights, pranks. Oh, and this year, for Halloween, we all dressed in teenage girl outfits, and went around the entire base, demanding candy. Wanna picture?"

I grimaced at the metal image, but my mouth betrayed my. "Sure," I laughed. He laughed, too.

"Three more days," he said.

"Ya. I can't wait." I heard yelling in the background.

"I have to go," he said. I frowned. "We have to clean up the mess we made, even thought that will only make a bigger mess. Bye, Annabeth. I love you."

"I love you," I breathed, and the line was cut.

_December 23_

"Knock, knock." I turned around, and Sally Jackson was right there. "Hi, Annabeth," she greeted, with open arms. I gave her a hug and she kissed my on my cheek.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything, but why are you here? It's two more days until Percy comes back."

She smiled. "The kids wanted me to take them somewhere. Apparently, they can't ask you because it's _for you._"

I huffed. How they got the phone and called her, I have no clue. "I'm so sorry, Sally. You don't have to take them if you don't want to."

Sally kept smiling. "It's no problem," she said. "I'm supposed to do that. Besides, I'm not busy, and the kids are so cute."

I took a deep breath and nodded. Sometimes, Sally was too nice for her own good. I called Maria and the twins. When they came down, shouts of, "GRANDMA!" could be heard. Sally hugged and kissed each one of them. "Ready?" she asked. They nodded. "LET'S GO!"

"Mommy!" my kids screamed. I fell off the couch, wide-awake. I instinctively went for my knife and my cap. I looked around and just saw my kids. I must have fallen asleep.

"Follow me!" Zach shouted.

"Ok," I said, still holding my ears. "Just, turn the volume down, m'kay?" They nodded and all grabbed my hand, dragging my to Percy and my bedroom. "Close your eyes," he instructed.

"Yes, master," I said. We walked a couple more steps, and then I heard an ok. I opened my eyes, and my eyes welled up with tears.

There was a life size cutout of Edward Cullen with Percy's face tapped on his face and a trident drawn with sharpie on his chest. "Thank you, guys."

_December 24_

"Zack! Aaron! Stop picking on your sister!" I yelled. Nothing. "Zackary and Aaron Jackson! I swear to Zeus, if you don't stop…" I let that hang off threateningly. Still nothing. "That's it! I'm coming up there!" I stormed up the stairs, and what I saw surprised me, to say the least.

"Maria? Why are your brothers duct tapped to the wall? And why are they wearing your dresses?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to know, but I had to ask.

"Auntie Thalia just taught me how!" Maria replied, a bit too enthusiastically. Leave it Thalia to teach my 6 year old daughter bad habits.

"Wait," I said. "_Just now?_ As in, a few minutes ago?" She nodded. "How in Hades-"

"Language, Annabeth." I smiled and turned to see my best friend, Thalia, leaning against the doorframe. "How's it going'?" She asked.

I ignored her question and tackled her with a hug. "THALIA!" I screamed. "I haven't seen you in years! Why are you here? Where's the hunters and Artemis? How have you been? THALIA!"

She laughed and hugged me back with equal force. "How could I miss seeing my cousin come back in four years? Artemis let me spend the night here and see Percy come back. I think she has a soft spot for Nico and him."

"Why Nico?" I asked, genuinely confused. I didn't get to meet Artemis, being a prisoner of the titian army and such.

She laughed, as if reliving a memory. "I think she still sees him as a little 10-year-old, waiting for his sister and obsessed with mythomagic. Those were the good times."

"What?" said a familiar voice. "I'm not cool anymore?"

"Hi, Nico," Thalia and I greeted.

"And why are _you _here?" I asked.

"Percy's my cousin, too, you know. Don't I have a reson to visit him?" He asked. Thalia shook her head. "I'm only going to be here for one more day. Then, Percy comes home.

_December 25_

"Come on, guys! Hurry up!" I yelled to the kids/Thalia and Nico. _My _kids were next to me, Sally and Paul were waiting outside, and I've been ready since four years ago when Percy first left. The duo was fighting on who would sit in the front seat. "Guys! I'm waiting! Don't make me come up there and make you both walk! Even worse, drive with Chiron, Grover, Rachel, and Poseidon!" The fighting stopped.

"You can sit in the front, Thalia," I heard Nico say, and I smirked. The last thing they wanted to do was sit with an immortal. They came downstairs and got in the car.

"Are we ready?" I asked everybody. They all nodded. "Let's go."

We got to the airport and met by the baggage claim. Not many people were there, but the ones that were, were mostly related to the solders. The announcer came on and announced that Percy's flight was landing right now. Cheers erupted from the crowd, and another announcement came on.

"The first off the plane will be the men and women who are coming home for Christmas. Thank you for serving."

I smiled and got on my tiptoes. Men and women in their peanut butters came out, but no Percy. "Need help?" a voice behind me asked. I turned and saw Poseidon smiling at me.

"Um, sure, but how…?" He grabbed my and lifted my on his shoulders. Percy's dad is so cool, almost as much as Sally. I scanned the crowd. I couldn't go for the mopy black hair, his hair is neatly trimmed, but I could go for his eyes. I looked for a few more minutes then I saw beautiful green eyes and a confused look.

"PERCY!" I yelled, and jumped off the god's shoulders. I ran to him and jumped on him, wrapping my legs around him. "You're back," I breathed. He nodded. I kissed him until Percy broke it off. I look down and saw Maria tugging at his pant's leg. He put me down and picked up Maria.

I walked back over to the little group formed for Percy, and they just stared at me. "Oh, shut up," I mumbled. They just smirked at me. Everybody gave Percy his or her greetings (Mrs. Blofis's more teary than the others…) and he came back over to me. He gave me a hug. "I missed you," he said, his voice muffled by my hair.

"I missed you, too," I replied. He looked at me, a goofy smile etched upon his face. "What?" I asked,

"You saw me all the time. Nico sent me a picture of your life size cutout of me," he explained. Dang it, Nico.

"Coming from the person who would rather celebrate Christmas than pick up his wife," I retorted. He smiled.

"You wouldn't be able to carry me if I jumped on you. Besides, you know it's not true." I smiled at him. I probably would've said the same thing if he wasn't in the military.

"Merry Christmas, Percy," I said before locking him in another kiss.

"Merry Christmas, Annabeth," he said. "I love you so much."

**There you go! My Christmas one shot! And my brother is in the Marines, my other brother in the Navy, and most of my family was/is in the military, so I know what I'm talking about. Review for all the service men and women who won't be home for Christmas, because not all of us are lucky, and somebody might get the news that their loved one died on Christmas.**


End file.
